"I enjoy the fear, says Major Mick Flynn, off to the front line at 50."

Today's TIMES.

To his army comrades in Iraq he was known as the Beast of Basra. Others, noting the way that he always seems to be at the centre of the action, call him Bullet Magnet or Mad Mick. To Prince William, who served with him in the Household Cavalry, he is legendary.

Squadron Corporal-Major Mick Flynn is Britain’s most highly decorated frontline soldier. In a career that has spanned four decades and taken him from Northern Ireland to the Falklands, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, he has experienced some of the fiercest fighting and received two of the highest possible awards for bravery.

Today, as he tells his remarkable personal story for the first time, he is preparing for one last mission. At the age of 50 he is to return to Afghanistan to command an armoured vehicle in a frontline combat role alongside soldiers young enough to be his sons.

Posted Jun-3-2010 By

Ghanboy

"..n the Falklands he killed for the first time. %u201CWe laid in to these people who I don%u2019t think realised we were there. Took them out. Bits of body. They were no longer there.%u201D He felt no guilt. %u201CThey were the enemy and it was what I was being paid to do. It was my job.%u201D

Posted Jun-4-2010 By

moonskipper

Posted Jun-4-2010 By

The_Plebian

There's a difference ?
Joshin of course P . Luv you guys , especially every two years when a coachload of you arrive at my local , which is 80 miles from Murrayfield and the other side of the country , and we have one of our better nights of the year . We lay on food , a band , a lock-in , some whores and accomodation . And you bring uninteligible patter and a great attitude , and we talk about the English all night . We keep asking for coal , coz it's always fuckin freezin , but all we get is lMore..eeks , sort it out bhoyo .

Posted Jun-4-2010 By

lauriebhoy

While you're shootin cunts from a hundred miles away and thinkin you're becoming John Rambo . I'm keepin your kids safe in clubs and bars where the nutters are face to face or hand to hand .
Was never into the blindly following orders or the gang mentality thing . But you watch out for that PTSD thing , or as we call it " you're no as fuckin hard as you thought you were syndrome "
Keepin it real , eh Hammer ?